Silo-door hanger.



Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Im erfior:

Euywze 7:

EUGENE I. WAHL, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CONCRETE STAVE SILO COMPANY, 015 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

SILO-DOOR HANGER.

LQZIAQIZ.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented- Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed May 29, 1916. Serial No. 100,515.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EUGENE J. VVAHL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Silo-Door Hangers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in silo door hangers, and the primary object is in having a device which allows the opening of the silo doors by the removal of a very little silage in back of the same, whereupon the door may be pushed inwardly a few inches or, in fact, just far enough to clear the door frame and then turned bottom side up and swung to one side entirely away from the door opening, remaining in this position without any fastening means. The device is of simple construction, inexpensive and not apt to get out of order.

In the use of the old door hangers or hinges, it is necessary to swing the door from one side of the opening or door frame and thus necessitate the removal of a large amount of silage back of the door, to allow the same to swing away from the opening.

It is also an object of this device to securely support the door to the door frame or opening so as to equally distribute the weight of the door on the top and bottom of the frame. This feature is extremely important, especially in concrete silo construction, where the weight of the door is apt to crack the concrete structure.

A further object of this invention is to pivotally secure the door to the hanger so that as the door is pushed inwardly from the opening, the weight of the same will hold it perpendicularly in a plane parallel to the wall of the silo while it is being turned bottom side up, or vice versa.

In the drawing which forms part of this specification, Figure l is a front elevation of a portion of the silo wall, illustrating two silo doors, one in open, and the other in closed position, which are supported to the silo by my improved hanger. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1, taken on the line AA illustrating the cross members of the door frame, in section, and the doors in full. Fig. 3 is a section on the line lB-B of Fig. 1, illustrating a plan view of one of the doors in closed position.

Fig. 4 is a perspective of a portion of one of the doors, and also illustrates a portion of the door hanger as it appears on the door when held in closed position' Fig. 5 is a sectional detail of a portion of the hanger and door.

In the drawing, A represents the silo wall, which is made up of concrete staves B, which fit together and are held in position by the bands C, which encircle the silo. Door openings D are formed in the silo A and have cross members E which form the tops and bottoms of the door frames or openings D. Silo doors F, which are of the ordinary construction, are adapted to fit in the openings D to close the same when desired.

A plate 1 is pivotally secured by a bolt 2, to the outer face of the doors F, near the upper central portion of the same. Formed on one side of the plate 1, is a vertical bearing portion 3, which is adapted'to receive the upper vertical end 1 of the arm 5. A collar 6 is rigidly secured in any suitable manner to the arm 5, on the vertical portion 4, and against which the bearing 3 is adapted to rest when the arm. 5 is supporting the door F. The lower portion 7, of the arm 5, is bent at anangle from the vertical portion 4;, and is formed'with a transverse eye 8, on its lower extremity, which is adapted to be pivotally secured to the cross members E, in one corner of the frame or opening D.

An arm 9 is pivotally connected by an eye 10 to the vertical end 4 of the arm 5 just above the bearing 3, the eye 10 being held,

in place by the split pin 11. The other end of the arm 9 is bent to form a vertical portion 12, which extends. through the cross members E, and is journaled freely in a tubular bushing 13. which is formed of metal or any other suitable material and extends through the cross member E. The tubular bushing 13 thus prevents the breaking or wearing on the concrete cross members E, when the vertical portion 12 of the arm 9 is rotated therein. In construction, when the cross members E are cast or formed out of concrete, the bushings 13 are inserted therein, and are so positioned as to be located near one corner of the openings D, as illustrated in Fig. 1 when the cross members are assembled in the putting up of the silo. Thus, each of the cross members carry a bushings 13. The vertical portion 12 of the 5 arm 9 extends far enough through the cross members E so as to receive the eye 8 of the arms 5, which are-freely pivoted thereon and held in place by split pins 1 1.

The plate 1, which is pivotally secured to the doors by the bolt 2, is formed with a projection 15, and is adapted to engage the outwardly extending end 16 of the stop 17 opening D, as the same is swung around on the arms 5 and 9 into the position illustrated in Fig. 1.

It is evident from the fact that the plate 1 is pivoted to the outer face near the upper portion of the door, that the weight of the door will hold it practically vertical, and

V the engaging end 18 merely serves to prevent it from swinging back and forth when being opened or closed. When the door is opened and rotated on the bolt 2 to the position illustrated in Fig. 1 by the upper door, the weight of the door holds the end 16 in engagement with the projection 15, due to the.

fact that the bolt 2 is set just a little to one side of the'perpendicular center line of the door F. Therefore, no fastening means are necessary to hold the dOOr in the two positions, when opened or closed. However, any suitable fastenlng means can be secured to the face of the door to hold it in closed position, if it is desired.

In operation, the doors F are placed in closed position and the silage I is packed in the silo, the inner surface of the doors F being free from any working parts of the hanger makes the entire surface of the silo perfectly smooth. As the silage is removed from the silo, the doors are opened in the usual manner, from the top down;

The particular advantage of this door hanger is that a very small amount of silage must be removed from in back of the door to allow the same to be pushed inwardly into the position illustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 2, the dotted line J, in Fig. 2, illustrating the approximate removal of silage from in back of the door. When the door is in the position illustrated by dotted outline in Fig. 2, it is rotated on the pivot or bolt 2 in a plane parallel'to the wall or opening of the silo, in the direction illustrated by the arrow in Fig. 1, after which it is swung to one side by means of the arms 5 and 9, with its outer face adjacent to the inner wall of "the silo. Thus, as is illustrated in Fig. 1, V the doors F may be swung entirely away I from the openingsD and allow the silage to be easily removed from thesilo. The particular form of the arms 5 and 9 and the means by which they are journaled or carried by the cross members E, equally distributes the weight of the doors so as to prevent an unnecessary strain on the cross members E, while the doors are being opened or closed, which would be liable to crack the cross members when the structure is of concrete. It will be noted that by placing the bushing 13 close to one corner of the openings, brings the strain of the weight of the door on the cross member to apoint where it is supported by the side walls of the silo, making the construction very much stronger.

lVhile I have described my invention as applied to the concrete stave silo, it is obvious that it can be applied to other constructions and can be carried out by other means than the construction illustrated, and applied to uses other than those above set forth, within the scope of the following claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: i

1. In a door hanger, eon'iprising, means for supporting said door pivotally in the door frame, said means comprising arms which are pivotally connected to the top and bottom of said door frame, means for allowing said door to be turned upside down in a plane parallel to the door frame when the door is disengaged from the door frame, means for holding the door in upside down position, and means for allowing said door to be swung inwardly and to one side of the door opening when in said upside down position with its outer face adjacent the inner wall of the silo.

2. In a silo door hanger, comprising, a plate pivotally secured near the upper portion of the door, an arm freely journaled at one end to said plate and pivotally connected at the other end to the end of a second arm at the door frame, said second arm being freely journaled in the door frame on one end and pivotally connected to the end of said second arm at said plate, said arms being adapted to support said door while it is being opened or closed and said plate being adapted to hold it in a plane parallel to the door opening while being turned bottom side up and swung back with its outer face adj acent the inner wall of the silo.

3. In a silo door hanger, comprising, a plate pivotally secured to the upper portion of the door, arms connected to said plate and adapted to pivotally support said door in the door frame, a projection formed on said plate, a stop secured to said door, being adapted to engage one of said arms when said door is in closing position and to engage said projection when said door is turned upside down and in open position to hold said door perpendicular in open or closed position.

4. In a silo door hanger, comprising, a plate pivotallv secured near the upper portion of the door, a bearing formed in said plate, an arm having one end pro ecting through and journaled in said bearing and the other end pivotally secured to a second arm, said second arm having one end secured to said projecting end of said first arm and the other end vertically journaled in the door frame; whereby said door can be opened by pushing inwardly far enough to clear the door opening and then rotated in a plane parallel to the door opening to upside doWn position and means for holding the door in upside down position, While it is swung to one side of the door opening by means of the supporting arms.

5. In a silo door hanger, comprising, a plate pivotally secured near the upper portion of the door, supporting means freely journaled to said plate and pivotally connected to said door""frame, whereby said door can be opened. by pushing squarely inward and then rotated half a turn, means for holding said door in this rotated upside-down position or in vertical alineinent to enter the door opening rightside-up when closing said door, substantially as described.

EUGENE J. WAHL.

Copies 01' this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenta. Washington, D. G. i 

